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The Nashville ordinance may have been a little extreme, but I don’t know if I’d call it xenophobic. My wife works at a public hospital that has to service all members of the community. It’s bad enough that the hospital, and therefore the taxpayers, have to pay for signicant medical costs for the illegals. Now the hospital has to contract for translation services so the employees can communicate with illegals who are receiving FREE medical care. Those translation services don’t come cheap. I think my wife said the service costs something like $100 per hour. And since our area is teaming with illegals, that represents a substantial capital outlay for a facility that can barely make ends meet. Still think it’s xenophobic?

I’ll respond. Are you suggesting that we deny proper medical care to people who don’t speak english? I would hope our country would never do that, whether anyone is here legally or not. The issue is to reaonably reform our immigration laws and punish the employers, not the immigrants. These people are here to work because they can’t find jobs in their own countries. Additionally, every report I’ve seen on illegal immigration indicates that bottom line, illegal immigrants put more into our economy and the government than they take out. I wish someone would do a comprehensive study on the actual dollars, rather than have speculation and anecdotal evidence used by so many on this subject. Most illegals do not use government or medical services for fear of getting caught and deported. I know there are many instances of abuse, but what is the actual impact?
I do have one anecdote. My brother-in-law was in Italy several years ago and developed a serious eye problem. He saw an Italian physician, who spoke english and did not expect my brother-in-law to speak Italian. He took care of him at no charge since their system had no way for my brother-in-law to pay. Had the situation been reversed, I’ m sure many in our country would have been up in arms about this happening.

A) I’m not saying that we deny non-English speakers medical care. I’m just asking why I have to pay for interpretors for ILLEGALS.

B) I too wish someone would do a detailed study of the cost/benefit of illegals in this country. Where I live, illegals get free education, medical care, dental care, legal assistance, food stamps, housing subsidies, utility subsidies, etc. And then there’s the increase crime, DUIs, etc. to go along with it. How much do you REALLY think they pay back?

C) Was your brother-in-law in Italy illegally? I bet he wasn’t. Which makes your anecdote irrelevant.